Following the model-based approach of Ellison and Glaeser (1997), we develop a framework to test for the link between concentration, spatial clustering and the size of plants. Concentration is an a-spatial concept of variability that can be measured with the standard locational Gini or the more...

Firms cluster their economic activities to exploit technological and informational spillovers from other firms. Spillovers through the entry of multinational firms can be particularly beneficial to domestic firms because of their technological superiority. Yet, the importance of foreign firm's...

In this paper I investigate the relocation decision of manufacturing plants in the German economy. The relocation decision involves whether a plant moves its location from one region to another over a time period or whether it stays in the same region. To analyze the relocation of plants, I...

Following a hedonic framework, this paper constructs various transaction-based commercial property price indicators for the Netherlands. Using quarterly data from the Investment Property Databank (IPD), the analysis covers a total of 10,000 listed properties over the period 2001-2011. The study...

Firms may benefit from proximity to each other due to the existence of several externalities. The productivity premia of firms located in agglomerated regions an be attributed to savings and gains from external economies. However, the capacity to absorb information may depend on activities of...

We test Krugman’s (1991) notion of risk sharing in pooled labor markets as one of the micro-foundations of agglomeration economies, i.e. we examine whether firms share risks from idiosyncratic and sector specific shocks through labor pooling. Estimating wage functions we find that job turnover...

This paper proposes a simple method measuring spatial robustness of estimated coefficients and considers the role of administrative districts and regions' size. The procedure, dubbed "Grid and Shake", offers a solution for a practical empirical issue, when one compares a variables of interest...

The vast majority of regions in West Germany, and the EU, have become more similar in terms of per-capita income and productivity between 1980 and 2000. But a number of rich areas - generally large agglomerations - have succeeded in departing from this trend of convergence. They are continuing...

The question whether agglomeration effects are of importance for regional development has a long tradition in regional science. This paper asks if regional characteristics and specifically ag-glomeration effects influence the performance of plants in Germany and, if so, in which direction....

This paper analyzes the early development of new establishments evaluating the role of spatial selection and agglomeration. The analysis shows a clear and strong selection of more productive new establishments into larger regions, regardless of the foundation type. While at the end of the...